Disclaimer: Story. Mine. Naruto. Kishimoto's.

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

Edit: 1/1/2018

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It's been a year since I had begun my training with Ino. Taijutsu, I had discovered, was a combination of many fighting styles. The fighting style that I had shown was a very basic style, apparently. It was a style that was not well suited to my tiny (frail, weak) body. Papa and Momma worked hard to find a style that better suited me.

They settled on a complicated style that had me landing on my tailbone multiple times. While I didn't enjoy learning it, I very much appreciated what the end results would be. It was a style that relied heavily upon careful maneuvering and using my smaller body to my advantage.

Chakra training, I had discovered, was exceedingly difficult for most, including Ino.

That was because they had known their chakra all along. Had it become second nature to them like their own heartbeat, only better hidden. They could not distinguish the difference between their body and chakra.

While that was slightly different for me, it was not by much. Though chakra was new to me, I had grown accustomed to it over the first years of my life here. For me, telling the difference still required deep concentration, but it came with much more ease than it did my elder sister.

Chakra training was basic for us. We only practiced locating our chakra, and pushing it to different parts of our body. That came easily for both of us once we had found our chakra. It would appear chakra control was a natural thing for us, even if locating it still required effort.

It did not surprise me considering our kekkai genkai.

Which brought me to what we were training for today.

Today was our first step into learning our clan's kekkei genkai.

We sat with our legs folded underneath us in our indoor training hall. Today the training hall was empty—a request by Papa to better help us concentrate. In our laps were two doll-like figures.

Papa sat in front of us, his legs folded underneath him. "Today we begin your first training session as Yamanaka clan members. Our clan specializes in mind attacks, utilizing sensory abilities—transferring consciousness, reading minds, and communicating telepathically. Our first lesson will be our most basic clan technique: transferring consciousness."

I shifted slightly and Papa eyed us both carefully. "To do that you will utilize your chakra control to its maximum potential. Force it to project and wrap around yourself and then push it out of you and at your target. You must not push too much into the attack as it will overshoot and the entire jutsu will become void. You must not push too little, or your entire jutsu will fail and you will be stuck outside of your body for several minutes—sometimes an hour."

Ino gave a sharp intake of breath and my eyes widened.

"You must have complete control over the jutsu," Papa said firmly. "You must will it to bend to your wishes. Never, I repeat, never, let it control you."

Ino and I nodded earnestly. Papa's firm face relaxed into a smile again. "These dolls in front of you will be what you practice with. Before you fully push your consciousness outside of your body, you must first understand how to do so, which way to go, and how to return. You will push your consciousness until it brushes across the doll. If you do that correctly, the doll will glow blue. If you do it incorrectly—push it too far or too little—it will glow red. Take as much time as you need; there is no rush."

"Okay, Papa," Ino said, glancing down at the doll and furrowing her brows.

I looked down at the doll as well, frowning slightly. My eyes flickered closed and it took me a moment to find my chakra. Deep and steady, it hummed inside of my chest. Pleased that I could find it, I began forcing it through me, up through my body and out of my hands towards the door.

In my mind, I willed myself to leave my body and follow the chakra.

Nothing happened.

My eyes flickered open when a light probed against the lids. My gaze slid over and I found Ino's doll had begun to glow a bright blue.

Ino was smiling widely. "That's so easy!"

Papa gave her a warm smile.

I frowned thoughtfully.

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Two more weeks have passed and Ino's training has already advanced to the next stage while mine has proved fruitless.

For the hundredth (millionth) time, I stared down at the doll and felt frustration creep upon me yet again when the doll did not glow. Papa had been watching me very close to see what I have been doing wrong.

"I don't get it," I whispered, my eyes stinging from the possibility of yet another shameful day. How childish of me to get upset over such a little thing; but yet it wasn't a little thing. Not to me. Ino had gotten it on her first try—as had most of the other members in the clan. If not on their first try, then on their second, or third.

It was not normal to push two weeks.

"Perhaps you are too young for the exercise," Papa said gently.

But I knew that wasn't true. There have been clan prodigies, children younger than I who could do that with such ease. Age was not a limit to us.

"I don't get it," I whispered again, my eyes blurring. "It's not fair. My mind doesn't want to leave."

Papa froze, a thoughtful frown on his face. "What did you say?"

I looked up at Papa. "My mind doesn't want to leave. It wants to push, and pull, and move things. It doesn't want to leave."

Papa's eyes flickered wide and a frown marred his face. "Nao-chan, stay here."

In a swift movement, Papa stood up from where he sat and prowled across the room. In a matter of seconds, he was out of sight, leaving me alone to my shameful frustration.

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When Papa returned, four elderly men returned with him. Papa sat down across from me again, and the elderly men surrounded me. Papa asked me very gently to repeat what I had told him. I repeated it.

The elders stared at me carefully, a mixture of wary and skeptical looks crossing their faces.

Papa asked me to show them what I had done before.

I did.

Their faces remained the same.

Papa then asked me to bend to my mind and do what it pleases.

"But Papa," I objected, "didn't you say not to?"

Papa gave me a kind smile. "Nao-chan, when concerning with the mind transfer jutsu, you must never allow your mind to take control. What you might be doing is very different from that jutsu. Trust me, alright?"

I trusted Papa. Papa was safe and secure. Papa made me feel warm and protected. He was my bigger blanket and my stronger hoodie. Not only that, but I wanted to please him. For the past two weeks, I had been failing terribly and at last I had a chance to make up for it.

I closed my eyes and felt for my chakra. The steady hum of it vibrated through me and I forced it back through my body, weaving it around me.

My chakra wanted to project to the other objects. It wanted to disperse into the air and reappear next to the objects. It wanted to move the objects. To lift them, pull them, push them. It wanted to control them.

All of them.

But it was not strong enough to reach so far so it settled for the object that sat in my lap. It wrapped around it, a steady hum vibrating against it.

My chakra pulsed, producing a beat of its own. At the beat, I could feel the object being lifted up into the air.

My eyes fluttered open and I stared at the doll.

A thin line of—black? white?—chakra outlined it. The doll was lifted up to my nose where it shakily stayed.

Shock froze me, but it did not last for long. Pride swelled in me: I had been able to make a reaction of sorts. Though it may not have been the reaction Papa and the others had been expecting, it was better than nothing at all—correct?

Correct. Papa must be pleased with me as well.

Wasn't he?

Before my eyes could drag towards Papa though, a wave of fatigue came down on me. My entire body shook and I could feel my chakra had dwindled considerably. I gave a strangled gasp of air and my chakra snapped away from the doll where it fell with a plump to my lap.

Still shaking, I noticed I had perspired heavily, sweat dotting across my brow. My breath came in short shallow gasps and my body shuddered.

My eyes drooped shut and darkness enveloped me.

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Darkness dotted my vision as my eyes fluttered open. Weariness brushed across me and I weakly sat up. It would appear I had been moved back to our main room. I had been placed on the couch with a blanket tossed over me. My head twisted around and I noticed Papa, Momma and the elders from before had taken note of me, pulling out of their conversation.

As I sat up though, a sharp pounding pierced through my head and I winced.

"Nao-chan," Momma said with a warm smile.

"Momma," I said blearily. "I'm sleepy."

"You've exhausted your chakra from that one shot," explained one of the elders, a gentle smile on his face.

"What was it?" I asked, my eyes looking between Papa and Momma.

"It would appear you have developed your own branch to our kekkai genkai," said another elder.

The corner of my lips twitched down and confusion came through me. "What do you mean?"

"Our kekkai genkai," Papa said, "is in essence, the ability to project and bend our chakra with our will and as our will. It is because of that that we are able to do the things we do. It is rare, but not unheard of, that some in our clan that develop completely different jutsus with the kekkai genkai; jutsus completely unique to them."

I shifted, tiredness washing over me. "Is that why I couldn't mind trans... fer?"

The third elder dipped his head. "You will never be able to achieve true mind-transfer or any of the other standard techniques."

My eyes widened and horror crossed my features. My eyes watered and I looked at Papa. "I'm sorry, Papa."

Papa frowned. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Nao-chan."

"B-But I won't be able to do what you want from me," I whispered, my voice wavering. The prospect of failing my Papa was horrible. The shame and frustration it brought upon me was undesirable at best. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to have a normal mind.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Papa said again, albeit more firmly. Then again with a more gentle tone. "It is perfectly natural. It only means you will have a different training schedule than normal for your ninjutsu training."

"Really?" I asked.

"Really," Momma assured me.

I smiled, relieved.

"So what... what exactly does that... do?" I asked softly.

"You are not the first to have what we call the Ishi-no-tōei-jutsu (Projection-of-Will-jutsu)," the first elder said gently. "The five before you all follow the same rules with that jutsu. It is a difficult jutsu and with little reward, even the most experienced user who trained under it for decades could only ever manage to control or lift things three times their weight and only for a set amount of time."

My brow furrowed, considering that.

"As you have already seen, it takes an alarming amount of chakra to do so as well, no matter how short or small," he continued. "Not to mention it pushes on the user's mindframe, hence your migraine."

"I will, um, hurt every time I use it?"

"Most likely," Papa said softly, taking my hand. "As I said before, our clan specializes in mind jutsus. The reason those aforementioned ones are the most common is because it's in our very DNA to bend our mind that way. With you, it's a..."

"Mut... Mutation?"

Momma took my other hand, kissing the top of my head softly. "Unique twist, is what I would call it."

It was a mutation.

"Can I... Will I really no' be able to do the other techniques?"

"Not truly," the second elder admitted. "Perhaps a more... watered down version of the mind-reading jutsu at best. But that would of course take years and you could never do it perfectly. Only one of the previous users of your technique could ever master one of the other techniques enough to use it."

"So all I can do... is that one thing that will hurt me and may even be too useless for battle?"

"Possibly," the first elder murmured. "It is not uncommon to develop a second technique."

I perked up at that. "Really? Like what?"

"It varies," Papa said. "And it won't last forever."

I wilted. "What do you mean?"

"At best, if a second technique does appear, it will rise in power before declining rapidly until you can no longer use it," the third elder said bluntly. "The longest a second technique has ever lasted is two years and even then it was more taxing on the user to be used often."

I closed my eyes, inwardly sighing in defeat.

So I was a mutant among my own clan with a technique that would be too taxing to use in battle, as well as painful, and only a slight chance of ever being helpful.

How quaint.

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"Imouto?" Ino enquired, sitting down next to me. "Something wrong?"

I shrugged, leaning into her. "Sissy?"

Ino moved, shifting my body so my head laid in her lap. "Mm?"

I shook my head, choosing to remain quiet as I contemplated.

Three years since I was born into that world and already I could feel myself slipping. She, my old self, was slipping. I had repressed my death to such a point where I couldn't even recall it upon birthing into Naruto's world. Only the events leading up to it and my life before it.

When I thought of my life, I felt my chest constrict and such a longing came over me. I was hurting because I could no longer have what I desired most and I feared I would repress my past life as well. Already images, faces, names... all of it was so blurry to me.

Worst of all, I knew I could stop it. I knew I could start writing things down. I could confront it and keep hold of my memories, but I... didn't... want... to.

I hated feeling so horrible, so guilty for enjoying life here when they must have been grieving me. I hated feeling such utter helplessness, loneliness, and longing for them; it was driving me insane. I wanted my memories shoved so far into me until I couldn't remember them anymore. I didn't want them.

I knew, I knew too, that I shouldn't. I had knowledge of that world-at the very least I should hold onto my memories for their sake.

But I couldn't.

I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I was selfish. So very, very selfish.

I wanted a new life here.

I opened my eyes and stared up at her bright blue eyes.

She would cry.

I hated that.

I didn't want her to be upset, especially over my own actions. Asuma... The war...

I wasn't strong. I died too young to have a chance to grow up, and I was still so very young here.

Ino tilted her head. "Nao-chan?"

But she wasn't at fault. Ino, no, Sissy didn't deserve unhappiness by my selfish actions, but did I deserve to suffer in silence for the rest of my life?

I thought back to our most basic training before the doll exercises, the will to influence our mind. If I could compare it to anything it would be like our wills to control our subconscious. Impossible in my previous life, but rather ordinary in the Yamanaka Clan. After all, they would need to be able to utilize every inch of their mind to project it out of their body and if their subconscious fought them even the slightest bit...

I wouldn't need my subconcious to be completely open to me. I had a different technique that didn't require it.

I knew how to control it enough... to perhaps do what I wanted it to do...

I smiled at Ino. "I love you, Sissy."

Yes... if I could... perhaps try it that way... That way I wouldn't have to feel those horrible memories anymore but I could still... I could still call upon them when I needed them. I could manipulate my subconscious to repress them and only pull them up when I was in a certain situation.

Ino returned my smile with a bright one.

"I love you, too, Nao-chan!"

I was so very selfish.

I wanted to forget everything that made me me, and remember everything that would make me Nao.

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Ta-Da... So her memories will be locked away until certain events occur.

Answer: Kiba's Clan because I love doggies. And Tsume is awesome. Them or Uzumaki Clan because come on... they're pretty kick ass too.

Question: What nin-partner would you want? (Animal wise)

Reviews are love.

Picture was done by niasweet71 on deviantART.